“Close together, though miles and miles apart”: Family, Distance, and Emotion in the Letters of the Taylor Sisters, 1881-1921
This paper analyses a web of correspondence that connected five sisters in three countries over almost 60 years. Born in Kingston, Canada West, between 1851 and 1861, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Anna, Caroline (Carrie), Jane, and Susanna (Susie) Taylor spent much of their lives on the move between diverse p...
| Published in: | Histoire sociale/Social history |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Les Publications Histoire sociale - Social History Inc.
2015
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| Online Access: | https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/40396 https://doi.org/10.1353/his.2015.0012 |
| Summary: | This paper analyses a web of correspondence that connected five sisters in three countries over almost 60 years. Born in Kingston, Canada West, between 1851 and 1861, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Anna, Caroline (Carrie), Jane, and Susanna (Susie) Taylor spent much of their lives on the move between diverse parts of North America. In 1882 Susie moved to Iceland, where she remained for the rest of her life. The letters she received from her sisters document the evolution of their relationships as time and distance rendered their separation permanent and provide insights into the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of female kin living in widely differing social and economic circumstances. The deeply personal nature of many of the letters suggest ways in which the sisters attempted to push at the edges of the medium available to them to preserve a sense of emotional connection.L’auteur analyse ici les lettres que se sont échangées pendant près de 60 ans cinq soeurs établies dans trois pays. Nées à Kingston (Canada-Ouest) entre 1851 et 1861, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Anna, Caroline (Carrie), Jane, and Susanna (Susie) Taylor ont passé une bonne partie de leur vie à se déplacer entre diverses parties de l’Amérique du Nord. En 1882, Susie s’en alla vivre en Islande, où elle demeura le reste de sa vie. Les lettres qu’elle a reçues de ses soeurs rendent compte de l’évolution de leurs relations au fur et à mesure que le temps et la distance rendaient leur séparation permanente; elles donnent aussi une idée des pensées, des sentiments et des expériences de proches parentes vivant dans des conditions sociales et économiques très différentes les unes des autres. Le caractère hautement personnel de bon nombre de lettres laisse entrevoir les moyens par lesquels les soeurs ont tenté de repousser les limites du médium à leur disposition afin de préserver un sentiment de lien affectif. |
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